A WOMAN has revealed how she bit off the tongue of a man who was sexually assaulting her so she could use it as evidence to secure his conviction.

Adele Barber, 29, from Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was walking home from a doctor's appointment when a man brushed passed her in an alleyway.

She initially dismissed the odd encounter, but the situation took a sinister turn when the stranger turned around, pushed Mrs Barber against a wall and began to sexually assault her.

The incident took place in daylight, on January 10 last year.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, Mrs Barber recalled: "It was only 5pm in afternoon, it was still daylight and I was walking home from a doctors appointment, I didn't think anything would happen.

"A guy brushed passed me in alley then carried on walking. Then I heard footsteps running up behind me, he pushed me up against wall."

The man then started groping her and tried to kiss her by shoving his tongue into her mouth.

It was then that Mrs Barber decided to take action by clamping down on his tongue - biting off the tip in the process - in an attempt to try and secure vital DNA evidence.

ITV

She revealed how she bit off the tip of the man's tongue

Shockingly, Mrs Barber was sexually assaulted around 10 years ago, but her attacker was not convicted due to lack of evidence.

She told This Morning co-hosts Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley: "After the first assault I was a mess, I was really young and naive didn't go to police straight away so they didn't have enough evidence.

"That made me more determined this time. I thought, 'I've got to get evidence and show this is not consensual. No one is going to do this to me again, I'm going to make sure this person gets treatment they need'."

When asked if she planned on biting off part of his tongue, she responded: "I didn't know I'd bite off the end of his tongue, but I knew I'd try and get some DNA in my teeth."

However, the bite was not enough to stop her attacker - whom Mrs Barber said appeared to enjoy the pain.

I didn't know I'd bite off the end of his tongue, but I knew I'd try and get some DNA in my teeth

Adele Barber

He eventually gave way after she relentlessly scratched at his face in a bid to obtain more DNA evidence.

"For some reason, when I bit him and tried to cause him pain, he enjoyed it. I knew there was something not quite right," she said.

"It was only because of me being relentless, trying to grab chunks of his face… trying to get more DNA evidence."

After finally breaking free from the man, Mrs Barber, whose mobile phone had broken a week before the incident, proceeded to run a mile back to her home with the tongue still in her mouth.

Then, before even telling her husband, she immediately called the police who instructed her to put the piece of tongue in a sterile pot.

Police were then able to match the DNA on the tongue to her attacker, after he had attacked another woman.

He has now been admitted to a psychiatric ward.

Amazingly, Mrs Barber said she hopes that her attacker will get appropriate help.

She said: "Hopefully he can get the treatment he needs and he can start his life again."